George Groves Irritates Carl Froch To Fever Pitch

Carl Froch says building a future for his kids is his main motivation for his fight with George Groves, as he lifted the lid on his big fight build-up Tuesday on Carl Froch – Behind The Ropes, Sky Sports 1HD at 7pm.

Froch gave the Sky Sports cameras exclusive access to his training camp and family life as he was deep in his training camp for his WBA and IBF Super Middleweight title defence against Groves at the sold-out Phones 4u Arena in Manchester, live on Sky Sports Box Office – and he reveals the driving force behind his success.

“There are many different things that motivate me, I’ve got two kids, I love them so much, I can’t wait until the day I retire so I can spend more time with them because at the minute, I’m in a short term career,” said Froch. “What’s another year or two to secure not only my own but my kids future and my legacy doing a sport I love?”

The Cobra talks about George Groves’ attitude in the build-up to the fight, which has also given him the incentive he needs to prevail on Saturday night.

“The guy is fighting for his first World title and is just doing typically what British fighters have done before I fought them,” said Froch. “He is trying to give himself some sort of confidence and self-belief by downplaying what I have done but it is a bit of a backward way of doing it because when you’re up against somebody like me who has earned respect off the boxing fraternity and been involved in back to back world title fights and achieved what I have achieved, you’d think he would use his brain and be a little bit more respectful.

“I’m very experienced at top level, the fact that I don’t really like Groves isn’t going to affect my performance. All he’s done, by being horrible in the build-up to this fight, is to just motivate me. He’s given me the motivation I need.

“If he had been quite humble and appreciative of his shot, because he’s not number one with the IBF – he’s number five, so he’s been granted a position, you know gifted a position of authority in the sense he’s allowed to challenge for the IBF world title, one of the belts that I hold, so he could have been a little bit more, you know, appreciative about it.

“But the way I’ve prepared, the way I’ve been motivated – thank you very much George for the motivation you’ve given me over the last three months – I’m going to go there and absolutely outclass Groves as far as I’m concerned. This is obviously me talking before the fight, this is how I feel. I’m going to go in there and absolutely outclass him and do a job on him – it’s as simple as that.”

The show [Behind the Ropes] is very family orientated where ‘we’ spend time with the people closest to Carl, his Mum Carol and partner Rachael and we check out Carl’s skills on the snooker table with his best friends and his two Brothers Lee and Wayne.

Sky Sports also had privileged access to Carl’s sparring with IBF Middleweight champion Darren Barker and Carl dedicates his overwhelming success to trainer Robert McCracken.

“A fighter trainer relationship is the most important thing in professional boxing,” said Froch. “Rob brings the best out of me in training, in sparring and on fight night. I couldn’t do what I do without him.

“I’ve said time and time again without Rob McCracken there’s no way I would have performed at the level I’ve performed at and had the success I’ve had with Rob McCracken. No way at all. It would have been impossible.”

Carl Froch – Behind the Ropes will air on Sky Sports 1 at 7pm tonight.

Froch v Groves on 23 November is live on Sky Sports Box Office. Visit skysports.com/frochgroves for booking information, book via your Sky remote or call08442 410888